Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin this morning sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis to the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Vingt-Trois, expressing the Holy Father’s deepest sympathy for the victims of Wednesday’s terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris.
Pope Francis dedicated the first moments of his homily at Holy Mass this morning to the victims and their families, after last evening issuing a forceful condemnation of the brutal attack.
With a tweet, the Pope has also created a new hashtag: #PrayersForParis. It has already received 10,000 retweets.
Here below we publish the full text of this morning’s telegram.
***
His Eminence Cardinal André Vingt-Trois
Archbishop of Paris
Having learned of the terrible attack in Paris at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, which has claimed so many victims, in prayer His Holiness Pope Francis shares in the pain of the bereaved families and the sadness of all the French. He entrusts the victims to God, who is full of mercy, praying that He might welcome them into His light. The Holy Father expresses his deepest sympathy to the wounded and to their families, asking the Lord to give them comfort and consolation in their time of trial. The Holy Father reiterates his condemnation of the violence, which generates so much suffering, and imploring God to grant the gift of peace, he invokes upon the families and all the French the favor of divine blessings.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of the Holy See
Translation by Diane Montagna, of Aleteia’s English edition.
And today we celebrate...